The submersible that went missing on its voyage to the Titanic wreckage has an eerie connection to a famed couple who lost their lives on the “unsinkable” ship.
Wendy Rush, the wife of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush — the man piloting the missing submersible — is the great-great-granddaughter of Titanic passengers Isidor and Ida Straus, according to archival records reviewed by The New York Times. The Strauses were some of the wealthiest passengers aboard the Titanic when it sank in the icy waters of the North Atlantic in 1912, and their love story was even featured for a brief moment in James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster film.
Wendy Rush, born Wendy Weil, is descended from one of Isidor and Ida’s seven children, Minnie. Minnie’s grandson, Dr. Richard Weil III, is Rush’s father, according to Joan Adler, the executive director of the Straus Historical Society, the Times reported.
Isidor Straus was an American Jewish businessman who co-owned Macy’s department store with his brother and briefly served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Survivors of the Titanic sinking said they saw Isidor refuse to enter a lifeboat, making sure women and children took priority over him. Ida is said to have stayed by her husband’s side, refusing to leave him as the ship sank. The couple was reportedly last seen standing arm in arm as the Titanic went under the ocean’s surface.
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In the “Titanic” film, a fictionalized version of Isidor and Ida’s story shows an older couple holding each other in bed as water pours into the ship and the orchestra plays “Nearer My God To Thee.” While the Strauses are not named in the film, the couple is mentioned in the credits, according to Insider.
According to Coast Guard estimates, the OceanGate submersible will run out of oxygen Thursday morning as an international search continues for the vessel that went missing on June 19.
A Canadian airplane picked up the “underwater noises” on Tuesday, resulting in the search team focusing their operation on the area where the sounds came from, according to U.S. Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick. There are five “surface assets” and two remotely operated vehicles searching for the submersible, the Titan. Five more assets are expected to join the search, Frederick said, according to the Times. Authorities are also using airplanes and sonar buoys to look for the missing sub.